Meet the newest member of the Quiltmaker Team: Shayla + Giveaway!

Hello Quilty Friends! My name is Shayla. Some of you may know me if you have won a prize, or had a question about one of our patterns. I am the newest member of the Quiltmaker Team. My official job title is Editorial Assistant and my days include:

Emailing, lots of emailing! Which sounds pretty mundane, and somedays it is. But other days I get to communicate with our talented designers, see what our amazing readers have created and help someone solve a question! Those are fun days!

Packaging and Mailing. Another not so glamorous part of the job, but when I have to mail approximately 200 mugs out, I see it as a challenge! (I feel worse for the mail man!) Besides, all the sweet words from prize winners are definitely worth it!

Help run the contests and blog-hops! It is so much fun to give stuff away!

Pick fabric for color options. I just got to pick out 10 different Christmas/holiday/winter themed fabric lines for our Christmas in July Color-options and giveaway!

Sew-to-Speak column. That’s right… when you send in pictures, I personally look at them! It is my devastatingly hard decision every issue to choose what reader’s renditions get put into the Sew-to-Speak column. There are so many beauties to choose from! I am currently in the editing stages for the May/June issue!

Excel sheets… I make a lot, I mean A LOT of Excel sheets. It is the only way I can keep track of what is going on, when, where, and for whom!

My favorite task has been designing goodies for this years Block Party in Portland. I have been working on mugs, buttons and hoodies! They are fun!

Another one of my favorite jobs is making and publishing the Quilty Quotes every Monday. Our talented graphic designer, Denise Stark, designed the layout. So, all I do is change the colors, words and art. But I enjoy it! And since it is Monday… here is the latest addition to Quilty Quotes from Quiltmaker:

So, that just about sums up what I do on a daily basis…. it seems like a lot when I stop and write it all down! Now, you might ask how I got into the quilting world. The truth is, I can’t ever remember not being in it! My grandma taught me to sew when I was six and I have been sewing and designing ever since!

This is me and my little sister, Alayna, next to the very first quilt I entered into a show.

This is my grandma, Mary Ellen, and I with my first applique quilt.

Now, three generations of us work in all aspects of the quilting world. My grandma works at Buggy Barn, an amazing quilt shop in Reardon, Washington; my mom is a long-arm quilter and designs patterns with me; and I worked for the amazing pattern designer, Sue Marsh, and now I work here!

Here are few little tidbits about me:

I LOVE to travel! My most recent adventure was to Iceland.

I always have a camera in my hand or an arms length away.

If I had to wear one pair of shoes for the rest of my life, I’d pick Converse! It is a goal of mine to own a pair in every color.

Now, to the good stuff…. Giveaways! I have three 100 Blocks Volume 1 issues begging to be given away! All you have to do is comment on this post by Tuesday, February 26 at 11:59 PM and tell me when you started sewing or something we have in common!

The winners of the Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Volume 1 issues are: Christi (#26), Kaye Littles (#44) and Jane Nachand (#28). Thank you to everyone who participated! It was fun to learn a little about everyone!

About Shayla

I am the Editorial Assistant at Quiltmaker. I have been making quilts since I was six and now have my own pattern design company. Outside of sewing I enjoy spending time with my family, traveling the world and playing with my 3 dogs.

My mother was always sewing something and taught me how to sew. I also had to sew throughout undergrad & grad school (costuming in theatre). I didn’t start quilting until this past summer when I made my son his first quilt.

I have been sewing since I was tall enough to see over these sewing machine, I have made many things like ball gowns, children’s clothes , Baptism gowns for our twins and in 2006 I sewed my first quilts. I got lost in life and had not sewn for many years but since christmas last year I have sewn about 7-8 quilt tops for Sunshine Linus a group in Queensland that sew quilts for children in hospital. Our youngest child spent 5 weeks on hospital and was quite sick. While in hospital we were given a quilt made by one of the Sunshine Linus Ladies, I missed quilt sewing and I have now joined the ladies in making quilts for other children. We see this as paying it forward.

I started sewing in 4H club, sewed all my clothes going thru grade and high school, and made my own wedding dress, which when my first granddaughters, identical twins, were born 19 years ago, I cut the skirt apart on the wedding dress, and made 2 baptisimal gowns. And now I am doing quilts, and loving every day of it. Love this website, so much info.

I have always wanted to learn to quilt but no one in my family did it. So this year for Christmas i got a sewing machine , and have ben on a mission to teach myself how. So far ive completed one quilt a few dresses and have started my second quilt.

I have been quilting for about six years and feel that I’m still working on the creative process. At times it seems like my efforts are “trial and error” so I would really love to receive a copy of 100 Blocks. Thanks for the chance to win!

Welcome to the team! I started sewing garments when I was 12. I started piecing quilts 15 years ago and started my longarm business 5 years ago. I love the Buggy Barn and have stopped by the shop when I am in the Spokane area.
I love dogs too! Though right now I only have one. I am planning on getting a second Labrador this summer.
I am in the midst of completing quilts for customers and my own for up coming quilt shows.